ABOUT $8000 has been raised for the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter service at the seventh annual Sandy Creek Pig Races, making it one of the region’s most successful fundraisers for the charity.

Hundreds of Darling Downs locals attended the popular event near Warwick on Saturday, to cheer on eight fit little pigs that raced each other to bring home the bacon for LifeFlight Rescue patients.

One of the organisers Jodie Crowley said the event continues to grow in popularity, with many locals knowing first-hand the importance of getting patients to emergency specialist medical care fast.

Jodie’s granddaughter Summah is a past patient who has been urgently airlifted by the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter twice - once when she was four days old, then again six months later.

Some of eight the little pigs that raced each other to bring home the bacon for LifeFlight Rescue patients.

“She was very sick. One lung had collapsed and by the time she arrived in Brisbane the other lung had partially collapsed. Then six months month later her lungs gave her more problems again,” Jodie said.

“We started this event as we really wanted give back to LifeFlight because so many of us in the community have been airlifted and we are grateful for their help.”

Now six years old, Summah is a healthy little girl who looks forward to watching the Sandy Creek Pig Races every year.

“She just loves everything about the races. She especially loved cheering on her favourite little pig dressed in a pink jacket,” Jodie said.

The generosity of the South-West region was also felt in Toowoomba at the Beyond the Range Gala - a black tie event that raised about $5000, shared between RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter service and Services for Australia Remote and Rural Allied Health (SARRAH).

LifeFlight’s South-West Community Engagement Coordinator Nikki Bloom said she was overwhelmed by the ongoing generosity of Darling Downs and Toowoomba residents, who had supported four major fundraisers for LifeFlight in two weeks.

“The South-West community is full of people with big hearts who really do care about helping to save lives,” Nikki said.

“Every dollar, every donation makes a difference to the life of someone who needs LifeFlight to urgently fly them to emergency specialist care.

“We are very grateful for the community’s ongoing support so we can continue to keep the Toowoomba based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter flying in the region.”

Last calendar year, the Toowoomba RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter completed 587 missions, including 458 inter-hospital transfers, four neonatal transfers, 121 airlifts from the scene of an accident or incident and four search and rescues, in a service worth over $7.3 million to the region.